Heineken Cup Broadcasts

3 September 2002 10:13am

There will be nine live broadcasts of Round 1 matches when the Heineken Cup returns next month.

Seven different stations will show the opening shots being fired in this seasons competition on the second weekend of October as the Heineken Cup is beamed to an ever increasing and wider armchair audience across Europe.

Terrestrial stations BBC Network, France Televisions, RTE, S4C and the BBC regional stations in Wales and Northern Ireland will all show the opening action live, British Eurosport returning as the competitions satellite broadcast partner.

The television package for the eighth season of European club rugbys elite tournament represents a new high with weekend audiences set to soar to new peaks.

BBC Grandstand will kick-off their coverage with Munsters trip to Kingsholm to face Gloucester, newcomers London Irish's visit to former champions Toulouse the main event on France Televisions. But reigning champions Leicester Tigers will be first on the screens as they meet Neath at The Gnoll on Friday night in front of the BBC Wales cameras with the Donnybrook clash between Leinster Lions and Bristol Shoguns, which starts just five minutes later, televised by RTE. Cardiff's match against Biarritz Olympic and Ulster's visit to Northampton Saints are the other matches that will attract massive television audiences tuning in to see the top 24 teams from seven nations chasing the northern hemisphere's most coveted club prize.

The full televised schedules for Rounds 1 and 2 of the tournament (RTE have nominated all six rounds of Pool matches they will broadcast) are: